


something like destiny

by perihelion (mattratat)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Assassin AU, M/M, Royalty AU, Slow Dancing, aka the major character death tag is up to interpretation, no beta we die like men, p5 protag is called ren bc i have an Obvious Bias towards it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 17:35:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20101033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattratat/pseuds/perihelion
Summary: In the dead of night, an assassin is, regretfully, in love with his target: the beautiful, ridiculous Prince of Shibuya.





	something like destiny

There’s music playing somewhere in the castle. Ren doesn’t know where it’s coming from, but it’s there now. Maybe the courtyard? It’s impossible to locate the source. But it’s beautiful regardless, as it floats in through the tall balcony windows, and besides, he loves this song.    
  


“You can’t be serious,” Akechi says, staring at him with comically wide eyes as he stares at the hand extended to him. 

Ren grins, head cocked just slightly to the side, curls falling in his eyes. “I thought you said you knew me better than that.” 

His heart is beating too loudly now, so loud that Akechi must be able to here it by now. He wants to silence it, berate his own heart for giving away his nerves, but he’s terrified. Terrified Akechi is going to say no, terrified that he’s gotten everything wrong. 

But then again, he already has. He’s gotten everything wrong, but-

But not this. Silently, he begs. A tired, broken plea. 

_ Please, not this. Let me be right just this once.  _

In truth, he isn’t sure he knows Akechi at all. He doesn’t know where he came from, what his goal here was, what he was going to do when the day came that he’d have to finally put the gun to Ren’s head and pull the trigger. Hell, he didn’t even know his first name.

But Ren didn’t think he was entirely clueless.

He knew that Akechi didn’t like eggs, but adored pancakes first thing in the morning. He knew that he preferred sunrises to sunsets, and that he liked the smell of roses despite the cliche of them. He knew that he loved live music, that he was desentized to crowds. He knew the small smile that tugged at the corners of Akechi’s lips when he was happy but didn’t want anyone to know. In all the ways that mattered, Ren thought he knew him.

But now, the moment of truth was here. 

And there was a warm hand in his, a weight was lifting off his chest, and he finally felt like he could breathe again.

“I knew you didn’t sneak through my window just to kill me,” he said, grinning despite himself. 

“You don’t know that,” Akechi says through gritted teeth, but they both know it’s true.

Maybe someday, Akechi will kill him. After all, that’s what he came here to do. Ren wasn’t a true prince, everyone knew it, no matter how hard they all pretended. He was just a street rat that had gotten lucky; it was no surprise that more than one person wanted him dead rather than sitting on a throne.

And yet, Ren can still remember the night they met with fondness; it wasn’t long after he’d come into Sojieo’s custody and being cooped up in the castle after so long roaming the streets was driving him mad. So he’d snuck out to attend a fireworks festival with Ann and Ryuji and amongst the crowd of festival goers, he’d spotted Akechi. 

The rest, of course, was history. 

The next day, Akechi had tried to kill him for the first time. He’d nearly pulled the trigger before he recognized Ren. The tremble of plump lips and split second of hesitation had saved the false prince’s life that day and every day since then. 

And at some point along the way, Ren has fallen in love. He liked to pretend it was mutual. 

Of course, there was always the possibility that Akechi might not try to kill him at the end of all this.

In the darkest part of the night, when he was lying with his head on Akechi’s chest, listening to the soft  _ pat pat pat  _ of his heartbeat, Ren imagined a different world. One where they could be happy together, side by side as Ren took on his newly found duties of making the country a better, safer, more just place. Night was the only time he allowed his thoughts to travel like that, when he was tired and just on the very edge of sleep. He could see it behind his eyelids, letting the fantasy of a good, happy life together entertain him as he drifted to sleep. 

Most likely, he’d die in Akechi’s arms, betrayal being the last thing he ever felt before the bullet tore through his skull. 

He didn’t like to think about that. 

“You’re such a loser,” Akechi says now, snapping Ren back to the present. His words might be harsh, but he’s smiling, that small smile that Ren holds so close to his heart. 

“I know,” he answers cheerfully, and pulls Akechi I’m closer. 

They sway to the music easily. They’ve never danced together before, but now that they’ve crossed that line, it’s surprisingly easy. They move as one, stepping at the right moments and spinning across the room like they’d been born to do it. 

Akechi trips over his feet only once and though his face is bright red, they both laugh. 

The song is slow and they waltz to it with more grace than either of them could have ever expected. For the most part, Akechi leads and Ren lets him. He knows that Akechi likes the control, likes being in charge. And right now, he can have all the power; all Ren wants is to make him happy. 

“I was thinking,” Ren says.

“Yikes,” Akechi cuts him off.

Ren makes a face and Akechi laughs again, the sound more beautiful than any of the jewels the palace held, better than any music the band outside could play for them. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, still laughing, but Ren knows he’s not, “Go on.”

“I was thinking,” Ren repeats, sighing as he drops his head against Akechi’s shoulder. They continue to sway slowly to the music, and they fit so perfectly together that it makes Ren want to cry a little. “About destiny.”

“Oh?” Akechi asks. “What about it?”

“Is it really so unavoidable?” Ren asks, trying to hide the twinge of sadness in his voice. “Is it even real?”

Akechi tenses against him, a small but unmistakable change. He knows what Ren’s talking about, surely. “I don’t know. Do you think it is?”

Akechi was always doing this; throwing Ren’s questions back at him. Why couldn’t he ever just give him a straight answer? It was maddening. 

Still, he feels compelled to answer, even if Akechi didn’t. 

“I don’t know,” he says, truthfully. “But I’m sure it isn’t set in stone.”

Akechi seems to mull that over, eyes somewhere far away as he thinks over Ren’s words. “Is that so?”

Ren closes his eyes. “Yes.”

Akechi’s hand moves from his waist and- 

The barrel of the gun feels cool against his forehead. He should be worried, but somehow, Ren has never felt calmer.

He should open his eyes, but he doesn’t want to look into those eyes he knows so well and see the fervor of death in them. 

He can feel Akechi’s warm breath against his lips. All he would have to do was lean in- less than an inch, really- and he could kiss him. 

They both knew this was coming, but still, it doesn’t seem fair. Ren wanted- he wanted more time. More time to get to know Akechi, to learn every inch of his mind and body, to love him as much as he could. He wanted to work with him, to make the world a better place with him. 

But Akechi served the laws of another land. 

It wasn’t fair.

“Akechi,” he whispers, chest tight. Fear creeps in slowly, gripping his chest, the claws of panic sinking into his heart. He wants to open his eyes, but he’s paralyzed, held in place by his own fear. 

If it was anyone else, he wouldn’t be hesitating. So why can’t he make his body move? 

He doesn’t want to die.

He doesn’t want to hurt Akechi. 

“Goro,” Akechi says, voice strained. “My name is Goro.”

“Goro,” he whispers. 

He hears the click of the safety.

He knows he’s going to die.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” Akechi- Goro says. He’s gritting his teeth, Ren can tell. 

“But we could be so much more,” Ren says. 

Goro’s hand trembles. 

Ren takes a deep breath. 

Is this really it? Is this really their destiny? 

It isn’t fair. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> sobs i Love Them 
> 
> [twitter!](https://twitter.com/vanitashours)


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